Kempt Blog

One of the blogs that I follow is The Sartorialist. This is a picture blog containing photos of stylish people on the street. I find the candid and unedited nature of the photos refreshing and inspiring. The photo below was taken on Via Borgonuovo in Milano. This woman is quite lovely and has a natural and effortless elegance. I happen to think that Kempt’s Pure Tote in brown would look particularly beautiful with what she is wearing.

Noah And The Whale’s Charlie Fink recently debuted “The First Days of Spring”. The first video is the trailer for the second - really well done with beautiful visuals.

Check out Grant Hamilton’s Polaroid photography : He finds beauty in the ordinary. I particularly like his spectrum series.

I was recently introduced to The Selby: Todd Selby’s site dedicated to showcasing his photographs, paintings and videos of interesting people and their creative spaces. I am a highly visual person and love catching a glimpse of the ways in which different people live and observing the objects that make up their lives. For someone who obsesses over her creative space, the content of his site is certainly right up my alley. I love all of the photography - below are a few photos from his site.

[Below: Maryam and Uday's boutique "Maryam Nassir Zadeh" in NYC]

[Below: Gary Card and Henderson McCue's home in London]

[Below: Robert Longo's studio in New York City]

[Below: Ines de la Fressange]

Filmmaker William Hoffman collaborated with RADIOLAB on a short film about moments of life in reaction to one of their shows on moments of death. The result is inspiring and touching.

I have been working on a new environmentally conscious tote to add to Kempt’s collection. The Pure Tote is a slouchy bag made of 100% natural materials including chrome-free vegetable dyed leather, natural linen thread and retails for $400 making it an excellent entry point into the Kempt Collection.

Just a couple of weeks ago I introduced it to bloggers and made it available for purchase online. The reaction to the Pure Tote has been absolutely wonderful! BagSnob recently reviewed it and called it “the ultimate in effortless chic” - I couldn’t have said it better.

Kempt was selected as a finalist in the Independent Handbag Designer Awards in the category: “Best use of Crystallized Swarovski Elements.” Though Kempt did not win the overall category, Kempt’s “Lourdes Clutch” will be traveling on a world tour with Swarovski this summer!

I recently spoke with Andrea from Little Designer Book about my experience at the IHDA Awards Ceremony and shared photos of the original “Lourdes Clutch” sketch as well as the finished bag.

As time goes by and more of my life is consumed by Kempt with the day-to-day realities and stresses of running a business, I find it is crucial to have a creative outlet where I am able to work with my hands and create art simply for arts sake. A few months ago I started taking a weekly pottery class where I throw on the wheel. I take this class at Chambers Pottery in Tribeca. It has been and continues to be a highlight and important form of meditation during the course of my week.

There are several ceramic artists whose work I find particualrly inspiring. Much of the work happens to be created out of porcelain. The other weekend I was walking through a flea market on the Upper West Side and discovered the work of Stepanka Horalkova. She was selling these lovely cups. I also love the work of Daniel Smith - who sells at OCHRE (see below).

OCHRE is one of my favorite stores in New York. It’s located in SoHo and carries a beautiful range of goods: from vintage furniture and lighting to stunning hand thrown porcelain objects and hand woven textiles. Partly why I identify so strongly with OCHRE is that they focus on the use of high quality materials and impeccable craftsmanship to create a timeless and contemporary collection of objects. They believe that: “beautiful, well-designed things have enduring qualities which make them infinitely more appealing than mass produced objects.” I couldn’t agree more.

If you are not able to make it to their store in SoHo, they can also be found online.